Old-time Welcome For New Manager

Mangini Greeted At Open House

Taneytown City Manager Joseph A. Mangini Jr. has taken his place at the table in the council's meeting room.

And he's been on the job seven weeks already.

But Friday evening was the first formal opportunity Taneytown residents had to meet their new manager. Mangini succeeded Neal W. Powell, who retired.

"We wanted to give (residents) an opportunity to meet the city manager," said Mayor Henry Reindollar, who along with his wife, Dean, attended the open house at City Hall. "We're very pleased with him. Things are going very well."

Mangini thinks so too.

"Things have been going well," said the former Rock Hall, Kent County, manager. "I'm very happy. And I've certainly had my share of excitement since I've been here.

"I like the challenges. That's what Iwas looking for."

Those challenges include solid waste and recycling.

The previous communities the 41-year-old Mangini managed operated their own trash removal services. So, the situation in Taneytown, where residents are on their own to contract for such services, wasnew to him.

Even so, he said, efforts to find a firm to pick up trash and recyclables should benefit residents.

"People should see their trash costs go down," he said.

Mangini and his family moved here two weeks ago and rent a house on East Baltimore Street. His wife, Gale, who attended the open house with the couple's two children, Erik, 9, and Kent, 4, said the move has ben a good one.

"We like it here," she said. "Everyone is so friendly."

Mangini said people have recognized his name as he shopped in the city's stores and ordered meals in restaurants.

"I've been going around setting up different accounts and people will hear the name and say, 'Oh, you're the new manager,' " he said. "People have been very nice."

The primary attendants at the open house were council members, city staff and their families. Among them were Councilman Robert Flickinger; Myra McCarron, Councilman's Jim McCarron's wife; and city treasurer-clerk LindaHess.